The Concrete Tomb of Hradzka

Lots of great traditions fall by the wayside over the years. One such was the Schuetzen match. They're around today -- there are shooting matches for *everything* today -- but the Schuetzen had an unfortunate decline in America at the height of anti-German sentiment during WWI, and they've never really recovered. As you'd gather from the name, they're Germanic in origin, and were hella popular in Germany and Switzerland. Schuetzen matches are also very, very old. As in, before they were done with guns, they were done with *crossbows.* Way old school. They were done as grand days out -- people wore awesome clothes, went shooting, and (because they're Germans) drank beer. Then came the double-whammy of dislike for Germans and Prohibition. Ow. But the matches themselves are cool. They're shot at 200 meters or thereabouts (I've seen references to 200 yards for old American matches), offhand, using single-shot rifles. Very suitable for a steampunk shooting match, if anyone were so inclined.

Anyway, a while back I saw an absolutely beautiful engraved Schuetzen rifle at a gun show. There were no pics allowed in the show, but I got some off the dealer's web site. They were selling it for nine grand. It looked worth it. I love the detail of the woman with a gun.

( A couple of detail shots and a link to the Flickr set are below. )

The Associated Press interviewed associate biology professor Joseph Ng, and ABC News interviewed professor Debra Moriarity, both eyewitnesses (and, in Moriarity's case, the Big Damn Hero) to their colleague Amy Bishop's mass shooting at a University of Alabama Huntsville faculty meeting. Being a woman, Bishop is an atypical mass shooter, but her job worries and track record of instability aren't uncommon in such cases. The fact that she shot and killed her own brother in 1986, in what's looking increasingly like a deliberate crime that was covered up by her mother (in local politics) and the then chief of police (who personally interrupted her booking), is pretty alarming; I remember reading an article (which of course I can't find now) by one guy who had considered committing a workplace shooting in the distant past, decided against it, and went on to lead a productive life, but Bishop apparently started an ineffectual mass shooting, got an absolutely incredible second chance, and went on to commit multiple murders years later.

Ng describes an unusual scenario. A lot of mass shooters start out psyching themselves up -- they start outside their kill zone and come into it, and then start killing. Bishop did something less common; she went to the meeting as normal, but half an hour or so into it she produced a 9 mm pistol (make and model unknown) and began shooting. There were reportedly eleven (NEW YORK POST) or twelve (ABC NEWS) people, besides Bishop, in the room. She shot six of them at very close range, and went for headshots. Three died. Two were, at last report, in critical condition. One has been released from the hospital.

The other five people who were in the room dove to the floor, using the table as concealment. (Remember the difference between cover and concealment? Cover stops a bullet. Concealment doesn't.) Professor Debra Moriarity, reportedly Bishop's closest friend on campus, tried to crawl out of the room but was stopped by Bishop, who pointed the gun at Moriarity and pulled the trigger. The gun didn't fire. Moriarity recalls that Bishop pulled the trigger again, with the same result, which suggests a double-action or DA/SA semi-auto (a single-action, like a 1911, or striker-fired semi-auto, like a Glock, would have gone click once and required cocking or racking of the slide before the trigger could be pulled again). According to Ng, at this point Moriarity led the faculty in a rush that pushed the still-armed Bishop out the door. They then barricaded the door so Bishop couldn't get back in, and called for help. The barricade had been employed with varying degrees of success at VA Tech, and may have been especially effective here because Bishop's targets were people she knew -- with them out of reach, she had little desire to shoot anyone else, so dropped the gun in a bathroom and called her husband for a ride home.

Note what happened here: classic OODA Loop stuff. The faculty was not prepared for an armed assault, so had difficulty orienting themselves and deciding what to do -- but Bishop wasn't prepared for her gun to run dry, and apparently hadn't practiced clearing a malfunction, so she was thrown out of her own OODA Loop, which gave Moriarity and the faculty and opportunity to move against her.

If you're a gun nut, this is the funniest DOWNFALL vid ever. The humor is not especially translatable, which I think makes for the best DOWNFALL vids -- Hitler's ranting is funnier and funnier the more important the subject isn't, which means he's absolutely perfect for representing entitled fandom.

( Video embedded below cut. )

The story of Nidal Hasan is really weird. The facts have been rewritten multiple times, to the point that the guy's first and middle names were initially swapped and other stuff has changed constantly (for example: were there other shooters? we initially heard three; it's still fuzzy). There are, at the moment, multiple possible motives. Hasan's a psychiatrist, so he's highly educated; he's also very religious (he prosyletized to the point that people at work told him to knock it off), which are a couple of red flashing lights because, contra reports that poverty and desperation breed terrorists, intelligent and middle-class-and-up folks are the sort that terrorist organizations love, because they are steady and reliable.

Except here's the other thing: religious fanatic terrorists who go undercover often practice disinformation -- they don't talk about religion, they drink alcohol, they shave their beards, etc. -- so people don't know an attack is coming. Hasan could barely contain himself. He posted in favor of suicide bombers online, apparently; he told lots of people he was frantic to avoid deployment to Afghanistan or Iraq. And to cap it all off, he had trouble with women. According to the Washington Post, he'd participated in a Muslim matchmaking service at his mosque, but came up a blank because he had "too many conditions." He refused to be photographed with women, which was awkward when the workplace did group photos.

Current news is that it was when Hasan was taken down, it was a woman who shot him. Four times.

I cannot talk about the incident tactically, because reports are *still* all over the place. My best guess at this point is that Hasan is ideologically motivated and went over the tipping point due to emotional imbalance. Local news reporters are saying he was giving furniture and possessions to neighbors, which is a *classic* suicide thing to do, but you don't see it often in guys who are taking orders from higher-ups. So despite similarities to some busted-up terrorist plans, it's looking for now more like Hasan was a terrorist on his own nickel.

Still wondering about the reported other guy/guys, though.

If you follow me on Twitter, you saw it happen in realtime, more or less. I just had my first defensive gun usage, sort of. I say sort of because I'm not sure it actually counts. I've been in a situation where having a gun was a *serious* comfort (a sketchy guy at a rest stop thought my car was empty and an easy score when I was actually inside it napping), but the status of my being armed did not come into play. This time it did. I was over at Ash's and we heard some weird noises outside. There was a guy roaming around the yard. He was pounding on our cars, trying to get into them. We called the cops, but then he left the yard and we lost sight of him. We thought he was gone. Then we saw him circling the house. Then he tried to get in the front door.

That was the point at which I yelled, "Back the fuck away from the house! We are armed!"

Thank God, he did. He stayed in the yard, though, briefly going over next door, and he took up a real liking to my car for some reason. He stayed leaning up against it for a while, occasionally pounding on it, and eventually the police arrived -- it took them about twenty minutes. We did not confront him, because 1) there was no imminent danger to us, and he had listened when we told him not to go in the house, and 2) I had no idea if he was drunk, on drugs, or severely mentally ill, but the odds on at least one being true were good, and while he had demonstrated enough self-preservation to get away from the house when we told him we were armed we had no idea how capable he was of understanding what was going on. That did not make him any less potentially dangerous, but it also meant that he might not be sufficiently cognizant to realize that he was in serious shit. Which would make it much less likely that he would be dissuaded by the sight of a firearm. Which could be very bad.

The first time we called the cops, we gave them a description, because he'd gone off and we figured he was just wandering the neighborhood. When he came back, we called again, and they stayed on the line with us until the units arrived. It turned out he was so intoxicated he didn't know what was going on or where he was, so it was less likely he would have posed a physical danger -- but guys who don't know what's going on can still be belligerent, so I'm really glad he didn't get in the house.

Anyway, that was my evening. How was yours?

via gun blog Say Uncle, the FN FiveseveN's capabilities just keep getting more and more impressive:

Authorities have noticed an increase in high-caliber weapons in Los Angeles. One of the most startling incidents was when a Fabrique National 57, an assault pistol used to kill big game, was found in a victim's car by detectives investigating a double-homicide last year in North Hollywood.

"You use it on large lions, tigers and bears," said LAPD Deputy Chief Michel Moore, commander of the Valley Bureau.

AHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAwoooohooohooohooohoooPFFFFFFLLLLGUFFAWheeeheeheeheehee

*wipes eyes*

This is an FN 5.7x28 mm cartridge.

This is a tiger.

The Deputy Chief of the LAPD is either really ignorant about guns or thinks reporters are. He's right about the latter, anyway; if the article's author knew absolutely anything about guns she would have fallen over laughing. It's pretty much the equivalent of claiming that a 1964 VW bug is what you use to race in the Indy 500.

(Note to self: DO NOT GO HUNTING WITH LA'S DEPUTY CHIEF. EVER.

"Crap, that bear's coming for us! You loaded for grizzly, Mike?"

"Sure! Got my .22 rifle right here!"

"Aw, crap.")

There's a scene in the Batman NO MAN'S LAND arc that always annoyed me. The premise is that Gotham has been declared verboten, outside of all law, following a calamitous earthquake that largely destroys the city. Naturally, the folks who stay in town (most of our principals) find themselves in a dog-eat-dog situation where survival of the toughest is the order of the day. Because trade between Gotham and the outside world is so restricted, the street punks find themselves running out of ammo. So they break into the morgue to recover bullets from the bodies of their dead chums.

This scene got points for creepiness and atmospherics, but for a gun nut it was pretty annoying. Bullets aren't hard; a lot of people cast theirs, and you don't need to re-use old bullets. Back in the day, you'd see the gun nuts hitting up their friendly neighborhood mechanics for discarded lead wheel weights. Melt 'em down, cast 'em, by god you've got cheap bullets. I knew one guy who did a lot of re-enactment stuff who would use old roof flashings; apparently they used to use lead for that. Anyway, the catch is the other stuff: primers and powder. I figured the biggest problem would be the primers; reloaders buy those intact, so how would you make your own?

Well, with the recent extraordinary rush on all manner of ammunition and related materials, some folks on the gun boards have started talking about that very thing. It seems that you can take the primer apart, fix it up, and re-prime it using powdered strike-anywhere matches. I even found one enterprising guy who is *firing his guns* using match-head primers *and powder.* The match-head powder is corrosive, so you have to wash the gun with water and clean it well after shooting, and the ammunition is underpowered; he says that it makes a .357 Magnum shoot like a .38 S&W, though he could probably get it up to .38 Special. But it is physically possible (YouTube instructional link).

Incidentally, if strike-anywhere matches are too hard for you to get ahold of -- I didn't know this, but apparently they're restricted some places -- you can make your own from regular matches.

Useful gimmicks for anybody who might wind up writing post-apocalyptic stories, or freedom novels.

Something non-gun nuts may not know about the AR-15: you can buy them in pieces! Because the lower receiver (the part with the trigger on it) is the part legally considered a firearm, that's the only thing you have to go through a dealer to buy. Upper receivers you can just buy through the mail. They don't work without a lower, and you can get several in varying calibers, so you can use what is legally considered one firearm to shoot a broad variety of stuff.

You can build your own lower receiver, too. You can buy it as a finished receiver and parts kit, then put it together yourself; you go through an FFL dealer when you do that, too. But some people are handy and enjoy a challenge, so they go out and build their own lowers.

Some people *really* build their own lowers.

Like this guy, who whittled one. Well, okay, he milled it, but still, he built a functioning AR-15 receiver out of a block of wood.

It only lasted three shots, but hey, he built it.

(It's quite legal to build your own firearms, provided you don't build full-autos. If you do that, you have to get the permission of the ATF, and they'll only give it if you're making it for a government agency. When I have a house and can actually set up a shop, I might try my hand at gun-building.)

I've been insulated from this, as I did a massive bulk ammo purchase last year, but ammunition is getting *ridiculously* scarce and expensive. How ridiculous? At my NRA class, I met a gun dealer who was desperately seeking .380 ACP ammunition. I don't shoot .380 at all, so I didn't know this, but it's apparently become absolutely impossible to get. The cartridge languished for a while, but it's popular again in large part because of Kel-Tec, which came up with the P-3AT, an amazingly tiny carry gun -- literally, you can put it in the pocket of a pair of shorts, and no one will see it at all. Six rounds, polymer frame, extremely light. There are other .380s available, notably Ruger's recent entry to compete with Kel-Tec, the LCP -- and that's a very hot gun at the moment, very difficult to get. And the dealer was sitting on multiple .380s in his shop, which he couldn't sell, because *he had no ammo.* And nobody else did, either. He managed to horse-trade some at the class.

Another guy I met was going crazy because he couldn't find -- I can't believe this -- .22LR. Seriously. It's only the most common and cheapest and dinkiest plinking round out there, but he couldn't find any for sale. Saturday night, on my way home from the class, I stopped by my local Wal-Mart, and they had some that had just come in that day. $18 a brick. (550 rounds, for Remington's Golden Bullet.) EIGHTEEN DOLLARS. FOR A BRICK OF .22LR. If you do not shoot, that is high. I think the last time I bought it, I paid eleven. And noted, "Huh, prices have gone up."

I bought four bricks, which was half of what they had, and sold my classmate one for $20. Apparently, I was very nice. One guy in the class sells ammo at gun shows. He said he's seen bricks of .22LR going for $40. (!!!!) Out of curiosity, I stopped in the same Wal-Mart on the way back from class today. Sold out. The lady behind the counter said they only got one case in (ten bricks), and it sold in less than 24 hours. I just went over and clicked on the various cartridges for sale at Ammoman.com, and he's out of almost everything. Holy crap.

Looking at the case of police officers who were murdered in Pittsburgh, I'm noticing some interesting stuff coming out. Richard Poplawski, the perpetrator, allegedly opened fire immediately on officers entering the home he shared with his mother. Reportedly, his dog peed on the carpet, and Poplawski's mother got angry and told him she was going to evict him. The cops came in response to a domestic disturbance call. They'd been out there before on similar calls, so the PD was familiar with the Poplawskis. So it basically began in the same way that most shootings of police officers begin: with a routine call. Most police officers who are killed by gunfire are murdered during a routine traffic stop, when the perpetrator unexpectedly opens fire. That's what Poplawski did.

He had a Kalashnikov of some sort, a handgun of some sort, and what the New York Times describes as a "22 long rifle." .22LR is the name of a cartridge, not a firearm, and you can fire it from handguns or pistols, so your guess is as good as mine on that one. He's reported to have exchanged hundreds of shots with police. That'd be a little surprising. Ammo is hella expensive these days, and most people don't keep vast amounts of it on hand, though Poplawski was reportedly stockpiling. If I had to bet, I would guess that his first murder, as the police were coming in the door, was committed with the handgun. Subsequent murders probably done with the AK. I do wonder, though, if a lot of the rounds he exchanged with the cops after the murders were .22s. Because it's not uncommon in the slightest to buy hundreds of those at a time.

My guess is that the shootings were probably relatively impulse-driven. Example of previous behavior: Poplawski joined the military. Than he decided he missed his girlfriend and wanted to see her. So he deliberately got a dishonorable discharge. Yeah, that's thinking ahead, guy. While the murders were likely not politically motivated, it turns out that Poplawski is a political fanatic and active white supremacist who believes Jews run the country. He posted regularly to the white supremacist Stormfront forums, and had tattoos related to the movement. Also, he had domestic battery charges from roughing up a girlfriend, and was arrested for violating the order of protection she had against him.

Gun owners reading this will have had two alarm buttons go off: what was this guy doing with firearms? The domestic battery stuff and the dishonorable discharge mean that he is legally prohibited from owning guns. Those are two of the questions on ATF Form 4473. Whatever guns this guy had, he had illegally. Be interesting to know how he acquired 'em. If he made a straw purchase, then the guy who made it for him is going up the river, big-time.